What followed was a horror-filled two minutes and 14 seconds for American tourist Chris Gursky from Florida, who desperately clung to the glider’s bar and the instructor, trying not to fall to his death.

“I looked down once and I thought to myself, ‘This is it. I'm going to fall to my death. I'm a goner,’” he said. “I didn't have much grip left in me at all. My hand was opening, I was slipping. I had his pant leg, that was about it.”

But Gursky managed to hang on.

The pilot was able to bring the glider down, although Gursky said they were going about 45 mph when they hit the ground.